Fiore's Most Wanted
by ElysseRavenRose12
Summary: Natsu Dragneel is one of the most wanted criminal's in Fiore after a mass Jailbreak, but nothing is as it seems when Lucy meets him, with the other escaped prisoners on their way! With her best friend Levy in the thick of it too, they will have to decide just who's side they're on and what they are willing to risk to find the truth. 12/13 pic challenge.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey all so this is number 12 of my 13 pics/ 13 stories challenge. So it's set in a modern day Tokyo City kind of place only the country is called Fiore and the city is called Magnolia, read on to find out more!**

 **~I Do Not Own Fairy Tail~**

Chapter 1:

Lucy met Levy for coffee at their favourite café, it was a short walk from campus and in the direction of her apartment.

"Morning Lu!" Levy called seeing her and putting her book down, Levy's computer was also out, syphoning off the free Wi-Fi for whatever Levy was using it for. Lucy couldn't help the twinge of guilt she felt for the café owner's internet bill since Levy and her kept coming.

"Hey Levy, whatcha doing?" she asks taking a seat next to her, she nodded to Kinana one of the waitresses who knew exactly what she wanted.

"Just running some programs, doing some updates, checking out news sites, the usual" Levy says with a shrug, taking a sip of her mocha, Kinana put a cappuccino in front of Lucy and she graciously took a small sip of the hot liquid.

"Thanks Kinana"

"Anytime Lucy" the purple haired girl said.

"What about you, have you been writing at all?" Lucy shook her head she'd had writers block for over a month now.

"No, I really need some burst of inspiration, something needs to happen to get me back in the mood, uni work really isn't cutting it" Lucy says discouraged, Levy laughed turning to her computer as a notification came up.

"Whoa" she exclaimed.

"What?" Lucy asked curious.

"There's been a massive jail break!"

"Huh?!" Lucy asks a little stumped, did she hear that right?

"Where? When? Who?" she asks quickly, Levy was scanning the article like a computer herself.

"Okay, um six prisoners in six different max security prisons across Fiore have broken out, they're still investigating, I'll have to look into it more later" Levy says frustrated with the lack of information.

"What what's that?" Mirajane suddenly asked, she owned the café she must have seen us and come out to say hello. She was absolutely beautiful, silver hair to her waist, bright blue eyes and a model body. No joke she was actually a model when she was in collage she retired from it two years ago when she decided to open up the cafe.

"Jail break" Lucy says, Mira's eyes widen in surprise.

"Oh dear anywhere close to here?" she asks, Levy was typing but manages to answer.

"Yeah one I got another report a huge fire started inside the place, they've had to evacuate everyone, it was Grimoire Prison"

"That's only an hour from here" Lucy says a little scared, even if only one guy escaped he was in maximum security right?

"What were the other prisons?" Mira asks suddenly serious, Levy types some more before answering.

"Raven Tail, Tartarus, Eisenwald, Phantom and Oracion Prisons and I've found their names!" Levy says triumphantly.

"Natsu Dragneel is the one who escaped Grimoire, Gajeel Redfox escaped from Phantom, Laxus Dreyar escaped from Raven Tail, Eric Cobra escaped from Oracion, Sting Eucliffe escaped from Tartarus and Rouge Cheney escaped from Eisenwald"

"Their pictures will be all over Fiore before you know it" Lucy says shaking her head.

"Yeah…" Mira says softly.

"Are you okay Mira?" Levy asks, Mira nods with a small smile.

"Yeah…it's just I knew Laxus a long time ago, ten years or so…I had no idea he was in prison" Mira walks away and Levy and Lucy share a sad look.

Around nine o'clock that night, Levy calls Lucy who had been stirring at her computer with a blank word page for about an hour.

"Yeah?"

"Lu! Good you're up, you won't believe what I've found!"

"I believe you already, did you find dirt on one of our professors again?"

"No…well yes, but that's not why I called!" Lucy smiled even though Levy couldn't see.

"Alright hit me" Lucy says leaning back on her chair.

"Those guys who broke out today, they knew each other!"

"Okay?" Lucy said a little confused.

"How High School? Job what?"

"No! I had one of my feelings and got curious especially when I couldn't find anything on them even with their names, which I had to hack into the government for by the way and found classified documents and guess what I found?! They were in the military! They were a six-man team and really good at what they did. However, they were tricked into volunteering for a mission which bull-crappenly meant that military could throw them in a lab and use untested experiments on them! They…excuse the language, fucked with their DNA! However, afterwards the military expected them to be all grateful and do whatever they said, they refused and escaped. They were captured, separated and locked in maximum security prisons and I don't mean the normal kind, I mean they were thrown into hell pits and the keys were thrown away!"

"Jeez why didn't they just kill them? Wouldn't have that been easier?" Lucy asks.

"Yes, however when they broke out they had only just gotten the treatments the government wanted to know the effect on them so…that's why they were kept alive to study them, over the next few years to see the effects on their bodies and if they died…"

"No one would be any wiser" Lucy realises.

"Exactly, this is horrible" Levy crows.

"Levy you should really stop now, we've talked about your hacking, I really don't want the military to come and take you away for digging this up"

"It's okay they won't know" Levy says confidently.

"I'm serious this isn't funny" Lucy says, this was all really serious and something they should definitely keep out of.

"Okay, okay I'm getting out of it" Lucy heard her sigh.

"I feel really sorry for them! They were tricked and betrayed and practically forgotten by the world! Their families think their dead they are listed as KIA overseas" Levy says solemnly.

"We can't change that" Lucy says staring out her window over the city, _I wonder where they are?_

"But it's wrong and you know it!" Levy presses.

"We still can't change it Levy" Lucy says sadly.

"Well…I could possibly leak it online…" Levy casually suggests.

"No! One it will either be destroyed as soon as it reaches the net or it'll be passed off as bull by the government! You'll be arrested and thrown in a deeper hole than they were! And two there is no way to prove it, it wouldn't help anyone" Lucy implores.

"I hate it when you're right" Levy groans.

"Which is why I'm your best friend" Lucy smiles.

"I really shouldn't have looked into it huh" Levy says sadly.

"Yeah because now you feel bad, there's a reason there's a saying about curiosity killing the cat" Lucy reminds her.

"But satisfaction brought it back!" Levy tries to reason.

"Are you satisfied?" Lucy asks sceptically.

"No…they're just going to be captured aren't they? They're going to be caught and either killed or worse" Levy says, Lucy can't help but agree.

"Not necessarily" she says instead.

"What do you mean?" Levy asks.

"They might not be caught, they might get away" it sounded farfetched even to her but it wasn't impossible.

"They were caught last time" Levy reminds her.

"Yeah but since then, how long have they had to think of a way to get out and disappear? There were in solitary confinement or close to it right? Nothing to do but think" she reasons.

"But they were separated"

"Yet they escaped on the same day, so maybe they planned something, probably not getting caught but when they knew they would be…"  
"Oh god! They planned to escape the same day and run away, but why wait so long?" she wondered.

"Maybe they used whatever the military did to them to do it and they guessed it would take that long for them to control whatever it is"

"Plus a little le-way to master it and I bet your right! This is why you're the writer and I'm the reader!"

"Thanks but it's just a theory" Lucy says.

"Well it's looking good, I'm going through exactly what happened at the prisons they were kept at and no normal person could do what happened"

"Levy I thought you got out of it!"

"Yeah sue me, anyway there was a freak lightning storm at one, and another the walls of the prison were pulled apart and eaten? Um, another had a searing, blinding flash of light another went pitch black throughout the entire place, um multiple explosions of fire in another, that was Grimoire and some kind of poison was unleashed in the last"

"So safe to say they're dangerous" Lucy says.

"I'll say and they haven't been around anyone in five years, jeez I just want to hug them and tell them it'll be okay" Levy says.

"I don't want to hug them, and anyway I'm not exactly sure how 'okay' they will be, where exactly are they going to go? They're not going to be welcomed anywhere and a lot happened in the past five years, technology, news, stuff they know nothing about, do they even know what year it is?"

"You're right, I can't believe all this"

"Me neither" Lucy sighs.

Well I better go get some sleep Lucy, okay?"

"Yeah sure, goodnight Levy" Lucy says.

"Night Lulu!" Levy says cheerily and hangs up. Lucy leans back and stretches, putting down her phone and closing her laptop, the only light left on in the apartment was the one on the dresser. Lucy went to the toilet and then rinsed the dishes, she had already had a shower and was in her pink pyjamas. She was about to head to bed when there was a knock on the door, Lucy looked to the clock which read 10:45.

She went to the door and tried to look through the peep hole but she couldn't see anyone, she was sure she heard someone though, she opened the door and looked out, before she could even take a step, she was shoved back into her apartment, the door slammed shut and she was being held strongly against the wall, he mouth covered and her body immobile by the man's body crushing hers, she saw pink hair from the dim light of the lamp and onyx eyes stared down into hers.

"Are you Lucy Heartfillia?!" his strong voice asked, Lucy swallowed in fear, what was going on?

"I'm Natsu Dragneel, where is your father?! Where is Jude Heartfillia?!" he demanded Lucy shivered in fear from the look in his eyes, they were filled with hate.

 **Ohh even I'm excited to see what's going on, hope you like this first chapter stay tuned for more, I left my USB with more stuff for this fic at my mums home so I'm going to have to remember it because it'll take too long to wait until I visit home again.**

 **But please Review your thoughts and give me time between chapters, I have so many fics on at the moment I should finish some but I was inspired to do this one today.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Back again enjoy.**

Chapter 2:

He was really hot, and Lucy didn't mean what he looked like, even though he was good looking but his body was actually really warm against her it was like a full body hot pack.

"My father?" she asked when he removed his hand.

"Yeah Jude Heartfillia where is he blondie?" Lucy shivered but not from the cold he was too warm for that.

"He died…five years ago" she says sadly trying not to tear up, Natsu's body stiffened.

"He's dead?" Lucy nods.

"Damn" he cursed, releasing her from the wall and inviting himself further into her apartment. Lucy stayed where she was, she wouldn't make the hallway if she tried to run, but what else could she do? A maximum security prisoner had broken into her apartment!

"Why are you looking for my father?" Lucy asks cautiously, Natsu stopped looking around her apartment with his sharp eyes to look back at her. He was dressed in prison blacks, an ID number printed on his shirt, she could even see the bottom of a tattoo peeking out from his upper arm.

"He knew stuff, stuff I want to know too, but if he's dead means they got to him first"

"Wait what?! My father died from cancer" Natsu just looked at her.

"Sure he did, bet it was fast acting, died within a month or two, nothing the doctors could do about it" Lucy froze, he was exactly right. _How could he know?_

"He was a businessman right? He must have had files, documents, something! Do you have any?" Natsu asks, Lucy looked back up to him shaking her head to answer him or try and disprove his announcement she wasn't sure.

"Uh, books…I only kept books from his house, um, his work files, contacts were on his laptop, I gave away his clothes, furniture, collectables, I kept my mums jewellery and an old family portrait"

"Where's his laptop?!" Natsu demands.

"It…went missing right after he died…" Natsu snorts.

"Figures" he mumbles heading into the kitchen.

"You have any meat?" he asks as if they were having a normal conversation.

"Yes" Lucy found herself responding, Natsu opened the fridge and started tossing food onto the counter Lucy stood in the middle of the room with no idea what to do. In fifteen minutes Lucy watched in morbid fascination as Natsu ate nearly every scrap of food she had, he offered her some but she just shook her head still standing in the same spot.

"You have a TV in this place?" Natsu suddenly asked.

"Uh yeah" Lucy stuttered, picking up the remote and turning on the TV the news was on and ironically it was about the man in her kitchen.

' _While the prisoners have not been identified nor their crimes, six maximum security prisoners simultaneously escaped six maximum security locations this morning according to the prison staff. Authorities are warning all citizens to remain vigilant but not to panic, if you see any of the escaped prisoners call the police a walk away, as they are considered to be extremely dangerous. The prison's wardens will not of yet explain how the prisoners escaped or how they managed to do so simultaneously but we will have more information for you as the incident develops'_

Six pictures of the escaped prisoners appeared on screen, Natsu's was first, followed by a black haired man with metal piercings, then a blond man with a lightning scar over one eye, another blond haired man who looked younger with a scar over his eyebrow, a black haired man about the same age with hair over one eye was next and finally a brown haired man with a vicious scar over a closed eye, like he'd lost it.

"Good they all got out" Natsu's voice shook Lucy out of her morbid fascination of the group, she turned back to him.

"How did you find me?" she asked, she definitely wasn't living here five years ago so there was no way he could have known where she lived before he was imprisoned.

"You're in the phone book, not many Heartfillia's as you'd imagine" Lucy almost wanted to slap herself in the face, of course she was registered in the phone book, she'd been here two years.

"Uh…so what are you going to do now?" she asked cautiously, he gave her a small smile,

"Well personally I'm going to sleep, wait for my mates to catch up with me"

"Your mates?" she asked then looked to the TV again.

"Wait, them?! How are they supposed to know where to find you?"

"We sorted that out years ago, might as well get some sleep Lucy, it'll take a while for them all to get here"

"You want to stay here?!" Lucy asked horrified.

"Well where else? I'm not sleeping on the street, easier for coppers to catch me out there, in here I'm good"

"No, not good, I'm here!" Natsu grinned.

"Yes you are, and you're going to stay here so do you want to sleep in the bed or do I get it? We can share I'm not fussy"

"No!" Lucy yelled shrilly.

"Fine if you're going to be that way about it, I'll take the couch, anything's better than that metal slab back in prison" Lucy watched as Natsu walked around her apartment for a minute, he locked the door and the windows, took her phone and laptop from her desk and disconnected the wall phone. Satisfied she couldn't seem to contact the outside world, he stole a blanket off her bed and a pillow and got himself comfortable on her couch.

"You going to gawk all night or are you going to sleep?" he asked with one eye open at her, Lucy blushed and turned for her room, just before she closed it she heard.

"Oh and Lucy try and escape me, I'll chase you and I'll catch you, that's a promise" Lucy took one last look at the pink haired man with a sly smile on his face and she closed the door.

Lucy didn't get much sleep she was too nervous, she sat upright eyes on the door as if he'd suddenly burst in. But he didn't and tiredness overcame her before she drifted off for a short time. She woke up at 8 and almost believed she'd dreamed everything, except her phone wasn't beside her bed, a pillow was missing and she was slightly cold from the lack of blankets.

She used the bathroom quickly to clean herself up before cautiously opening her door, he was still on the couch, lightly snoring. Lucy thought about sneaking to the front door, unlocking it and escaping, running to the nearest neighbour and calling the police but she hesitated.

She knew a bit about him thanks to Levy he didn't deserve to have those five years in prison did he? He hadn't hurt her at all, scared her yes but it wasn't as if he'd given her a reason to be scared really, that was just her bias to be scared of someone who escaped prison, he did barge his way in though but he hadn't threated her. He'd promised to chase her if she ran though so she was technically a prisoner of her own home now…

 _What was she doing?! Why was she rationalising this?! Had she developed Stockholm syndrome so quickly?! He's not that good looking!_

Lucy slapped her hand over her eyes.

 _Where had that come from?!_

She peaked through her hand at the man, he had to be around her age he was strong she could tell through his shirt, without needing to remember last night when he was pressed against her… _Don't think of that!_ She reprimanded herself.

He had a strong angular face, his eyes she remembered bore straight into her and his pink coloured spiky hair actually really suit him… _you've lost it Lucy._ She decided walking into the kitchen and seeing if he had left any food at all in her apartment. If he really was going to stick around she would need to buy more food or they'd both starve. _Great now you're thinking of the future with the nice handsome prisoner_. She cursed herself and stood up almost having a heart attack at Natsu suddenly next to her, she hadn't heard him move at all.

"What?!" she gasped backing into the fridge.

"Didn't mean to frighten you, just wondering what's for breakfast"

"Is all you think about food?" she can't help but ask, he scoffs.

"Not even close but I haven't had such good food in seven years so I'm starved"

"Seven years? But you were in prison for five"

"Yeah but…how did you know that?" Lucy paled realising she'd slipped up, he didn't know she knew about him, _damn Levy you've got me in trouble!_ His eyes were looking sharply at her.

"I'll ask again Lucy, how did you know how long I was in prison?!"

 **Good Luck Lucy!**

 **Review what you thought and look forward for more!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Don't worry Wendy will be revealed in good time…**

Chapter 3:

"Uh…um…well, you see…" Lucy stammered, _how as she meant to explain this?_

There was a knock at Lucy's door and they both turned, he put a finger to his lips to tell her to be quiet about him, she nodded and went to it.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"It's me of course Lu come on we have class in an hour" Levy's voice came through the door. Natsu gave her a firm shake of his head to say she couldn't leave.

"Uh, actually Lev I'm not feeling the best today…"

"Really? You can open the door you know" she says, Lucy opens it only enough so Levy can see her while Natsu is right behind the door.

"Yeah really Levy I'm not feeling the best, I'm going to go back to bed" Lucy says trying to look unwell, Levy crinkles her brow a little but nods.

"Okay do you need anything?"

"Uh yeah actually, I'm out of food, I haven't bought any in ages…I guess I just forgot" Levy shakes her head.

"That's so like you Lu, I'll buy your shopping"

"Thanks Levy you're the best, I'll get my wallet!"

"Nah I got it, I'll go now so you have something to eat today okay?"

"Thank Levy" Lucy said and she wished her friend knew how much.

"Do you have a list?" Levy wonders.

"Yeah give me one min okay?" Lucy closes the door and goes to the kitchen table, grabbing her notepad she starts writing down food, Natsu on her shoulder watching carefully.

"Anything you want?" Lucy whispers, he half smiles.

"Chicken, pork, lamb, noodles, spicy food too like curry or peppers"

"That might be a bit suspicious to Levy, she knows I don't eat hot food" Natsu's face looked so dejected that Lucy ended up writing it anyway before returning to Levy at the door.

"Uh you know this food is hot right?" Levy says scanning the list.

"Yeah I know, I just feel like it, must be the sickness" Lucy lies Levy shrugs.

"It's a lot of food but no problem I know how you like to horde food, I'll be back!"

"Thanks Levy!" Lucy called waving her friend goodbye before closing the door.

"So Lucy" Natsu says suddenly leaning over her, his arm leaning against the door trapping her.

"Where were we?" _breathe_ Lucy reminded herself.

"Well…um my friend back there she's really good with books and computers and she looked you guys up when she heard about the break out and she kind of hacked into the secret files about your names and how you were imprisoned…" Lucy admits.

"So how much do you know?" he questions, his proximity not helping her heartbeat.

"Just that you were a soldier, as were your friends and something happened and you were experimented on, you guys escaped and were captured and imprisoned so you could be monitored…that's all" she says honestly, his eyes narrowed as if searching her for deception.

"Alright" he said moving away from her, Lucy let out a relieved breath.

"Was that all your friend found on us?" he asks turning back to her one hand on his hip.

"Yeah, I don't think there was much specifics I remember her saying something about them messing with your DNA"

"Yeah that was fun" he snorted, Lucy cringed, how could he take it so lightly?

"Are…you okay?" Natsu stared at her as if she suddenly grown a second head, not in a bad way just in fascination as if re-seeing her for the first time.

"Yeah, it was a long time ago" with that he moves off and sits on the couch, turning the TV on, Lucy stands dumbly for a little before sitting next to him on the other side of the couch, he looked at her briefly as she stared forward before looking back as well and they waited in silence.

Levy didn't take long at all, Lucy had to take everything at the door though since Natsu wouldn't let her enter, Levy was confused about that but Lucy just said she didn't want the bug she had to spread to Levy, so she wished her best friend goodbye and started carrying the food to the kitchen. She really had to wonder how Levy had been able to carry it all by herself since it took both her and Natsu to get everything to the kitchen, but Lucy unpacked everything then started making pancakes to Natsu's delight.

He could really act like a little kid Lucy realised, though at the same time it was plainly obvious he was a man, then again he'd get this distant look like he was very far away.

It was around 1 in the afternoon they were watching yet another infomercial when Lucy had the courage to ask.

"Who do you think killed my father?" Natsu looked directly at her, ignoring the screen completely.

"The same people who threw us in a lab like rats, the same people who put us in prison, they were just covering their tracks, I bet he wasn't the only one" Lucy didn't like that he was so blunt but at the same time she was grateful he was so honest.

"And who's that?" Lucy hesitantly asks.

"Fiore Military"

"The Military killed my father?"

"Most likely, if not directly, they'd have hired someone" Natsu looks back to the screen but his eyes were glazed over.

"Why?!" Lucy asks, Natsu closes his eyes.

"They think they know better, that it's for the 'greater good' what's one or ten or a hundred lives if it saves a million?"

"That's…really backward thinking!" Natsu looks at her in surprise.

"Everyone should matter! Every single life! No one has the right to decide if one person's life is more important than another!" Lucy couldn't stop her tears and she threw her hands over her face as she sobbed, when she suddenly felt warm arms around her she froze.

"I wish there were more people like you" he said softly in her ear, silent tears were all that fell from her eyes.

"The world would be so much better for it" Lucy rested her head on his shoulder and let him hug her, _he's so warm_ she thought. She wasn't sure how long they stayed like that but she must have drifted off because when she woke up, her head was on his thigh, and the blanket he's stolen last night was wrapped around her. Lucy jumped into an upright position like she'd been fired from a cannon even Natsu jumped at the sudden movement, his features turning wary around them like he was looking for an enemy.

"Jeez you're active when you wake up I thought we were under attack!" he said shaking his head.

"What happened?" she asked.

"You fell asleep, honestly are all girls like you? Burst into tears then fall asleep?"

"No!" she shouted and he laughed.

"Just you then" he says with a smile.

"What time is it?"

"Just after four, you were asleep about two and a half hours"

"I usually never sleep during the day" she says more to herself.

"I've never really had the luxury of deciding when to sleep, in the army you slept when you could but with one eye open at all times, in prison everything's so regulated you never really know if you're waking up or going to sleep"

"Weren't you in solitary confinement?" Lucy asks, Natsu nods.

"Yep didn't talk to anyone but the guards for five years, I was allowed 1 hour a day for exercise outside my cell, other than that I was inside, playing cards, bouncing a ball, scratching on the walls, doing some kind of exercise…"

"Practising your escape?" Natsu looked at her with a smile.

"Yeah that too"

"You going to tell me how you did it?" she asks curiously.

"No"

"Why not?"

"I don't trust you, and you don't trust me" Lucy opened her mouth to object but he kept going.

"You trust me not to hurt you, enough to fall asleep while I'm here, I trust you not to bolt out the door if I take a shower but…I can't trust you with my secret, it could put you in more danger anyway"

"My father was murdered! I don't care about danger I want to know the truth!"

"The truth is never easy to get and even harder to believe, Lucy these people are dangerous, they will erase your existence, they threw us in a deep dark pit where no one knew us and no one could help us but ourselves, we were expendable, we still are"

"Not to me" Lucy says defiantly.

"My father was not expendable, I'm not expendable and neither are you, you're alive, you deserve to have a chance to live!" Natsu cracked a smile.

"That might be the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me" he says honestly, he gets up and starts walking to her room.

"Where are you going?"

"I told you, I trust you not to bolt so I can have a shower, I haven't had one without someone watching me in a long time, I'm going to enjoy it" Lucy watched him go and listened as the shower was turned on, she quickly realised he'd have nothing to wear when he came out! Lucy did the only thing she could think of she picked up her computer from the ground, opened up the internet and order men size clothes for him, her father's old courier Virgo would be able to deliver it to her in half an hour. Lucy had closed her laptop and put it back on the ground before she realised she hadn't even thought about calling the police, she didn't even think to email Levy. Natsu was right she wasn't interested in bolting just yet, there were too many things she needed to know.

"Hey Lucy I just realised I don't have clean clothes" Natsu says coming out of her room in nothing but a white towel, around his hips.

 **Review Please!**


	4. Chapter 4

**New chapter hurray!**

Chapter 4:

He was actually still steaming from the hot water.

"I know clothes are coming!" Lucy says covering her eyes.

"How so?" he asks.

"I ordered them, Virgo will be here in a minute"

"Who's Virgo?"

"My dad's ex courier she still delivers things to me if I need it, she's super-fast" right then there was a knock and Lucy blushing to her roots, went to the door, sure enough Virgo was there with the box she'd ordered.

"Nice to see you princess, you haven't made service of me in a while" Lucy grabbed the box and threw it inside.

"I told you not to call me that and don't say that in such a misleading way!"

"Absolutely princess, so why are you ordering men's clothing? Do you have a boyfriend? Were your clothes ruined too? I should called Aqua-"

"No! I don't have a boyfriend, my clothes are not ruined I'm just buying them for a friends birthday that's all!"

"If you say so princess, Aquarius will be disappointed though" Lucy groaned with the thought, Aquarius was her mums old personal assistant, she always went on about having a boyfriend even when Lucy was young.

'You'll never get a boyfriend with that attitude'

'If you dress like that you'll never find a man'

'Get your nose out of that book and check out the eye candy!'

Aquarius was also Virgo's cousin, she was currently engaged to her long-time boyfriend I think he called himself Scorpion, because of the massive scorpion tattoo on his arm.

"Yeah well poor Aquarius, anyway thanks Virgo I'll call on you again don't worry!" with that she closed the door and turned back to Natsu, who was rifling through the box already, he pulled out a red t-shirt and black pants, he had the decency to change in her room thank gods.

"Thanks Lucy" Natsu says once he's dressed.

"No problem…" she says unpacking the rest of the box's contents and glad that she had correctly guessed his size.

"I'm surprised you even bought me underwear" Lucy blushed.

"I'm…thorough" Natsu chuckled.

"So am I" he says hanging his towel over the back of a dinning chair.

"You don't have to answer me but, do you have a plan Natsu?"

"What do you mean?" he asks looking adorable in his new clothes.

"I mean, you are an escaped prisoner, your face is probably plastered all over the country. What is it you're planning to do now you're free?"

"We're not free yet, not while they hunt us"

"Then what are you going to do?" Lucy implores.

"Don't worry about it, my mates will be here soon enough, we'll plan our next move from there"

"When you say _here_?"

"I mean your apartment just before we were captured we agreed to meet up at Heartfillia's, if not his place then his closest relative, like I said you're in the phone book, not hard to find at all, I mean seriously you opened your door to me" he says with a little disbelief, Lucy charred with shame, it wasn't like she expected to get mugged!

"Look I really don't want my place to become a wanted man's hostel!"

"Just one's enough?" Natsu teases.

"More than enough!" Lucy says.

"Sorry can't help it, they're on their way" Lucy sighed in defeat and sat on the couch, Natsu took a seat beside her.

"I really am sorry to involve you Lucy"

"I'm already involved, if they really did kill my father we're way passed staying out of it"

"You're braver than you look" Natsu chuckles.

"Shut up!" she argues.

It was surprisingly nerve racking waiting for Natsu's friends to arrive, scenarios kept flicking through her head of them being cornered and captured and forced to tell the authorities where they were going and the army bursting down her door!

"For the only other one in the room not currently a wanted person you're awfully skittish" Natsu comments as Lucy prepares dinner.

"Shut up! I can't help it, I'm a writer there's a thousand scenarios running through my head, leave me alone" Natsu chuckled.

"Don't worry, even separated we're tougher than we look" he assures her.

The door was pounded on in three sharp knocks at nine that night. Natsu and Lucy jumped to their feet from the couch and Lucy cautiously went to the door, Natsu positioned himself behind it.

"Who's there?" Lucy asked her heart beating like a drum.

"Redfox" a gruff voice answered, Lucy looked to Natsu who nodded, Lucy unlocked the door and opened it. Lucy couldn't help but gasp and the five men standing outside her door, wrapped in cloaks, they barged in and Lucy backed out of the way, Natsu practically attacked them with a hug.

"You made it!" he yelled excitedly.

"Course you idiot!"

"Flame brain hasn't changed!"

"Good to see you Natsu!"

"You look well"

"The place wasn't hard to find"

Lucy closed the door robotically, the six of them now in her apartment took up a lot of space, she stared at them as they dived for the kitchen or her bathroom like wolves, Lucy could only stand at the wall watching silently. _What do I do now?_ She couldn't help but wonder.

Lucy stared in disbelief at the five new strange and honestly scary looking people who were now in her apartment all happily chatting and catching up like they were old friends that just hadn't managed to catch up in a few months. Not five years.

"So this Heartfillia's daughter?" one of them asked, they all looked to her if suddenly remembering she was there.

"Yep everyone this is Lucy, Lucy meet Fairy Tail" Natsu introduced.

"Fairy Tail?" she asked confused.

"Yep the name of our squad" Natsu says proudly, the five of them were still in their prison clothes but they'd seemed to have found cloaks and thrown them over, she'd need to get the proper clothes.

"Where's Jude Heartfillia?" the one Lucy recognised as Laxus asked, he was the largest of the men, with very broad shoulders.

"Dead, five years" Natsu says succinctly.

"Damn, we'll have to find our info elsewhere" Sting says, they all nod silently.

Lucy was shocked out of her own thoughts when the wall phone suddenly rang, Natsu must have reconnected it at some point, all eyes watching her she answered it.

"Uh hello?" she asked.

"Ha you sound so unsure! How are you feeling?"

"Levy" Lucy breathed in relief.

"I'm okay thanks, how was class did I miss anything important?"

"Nah same as usual" Levy says casually.

"Levy thanks again for buying me food" Lucy says looking at the ground so she didn't have to make awkward eye contact with the people listening into her conversation.

"Anytime, did you end up eating the spicy food?"

"Yes and I can assure you my mouth turned to ashes and I deeply regret it" Lucy says, she hadn't actually eaten any of it, Natsu had devoured it when the others started eating everything.

"I knew it, I was so strange of you to buy hot food"

"I know I'm sorry, I'm no longer craving strange food"

"So are you better?"

"Not quiet I'm actually a little dizzy at the moment"

"Will you be better tomorrow?" she asks.

"Well see" is all I can say I doubt I'd be able to leave tomorrow but try explaining that to your best friend.

"Okay well do you into know what new stuff I've found out about our jail birds?" my heart entered my throat.

"Levy please tell me you haven't-"

"I know I'm bad I'm sorry but I had to!" I groaned sliding down the wall ignoring the looks I was getting from the confused on lookers.

"Levy they will arrest you!" I growled into the phone.

"Yeah…"

"Gods tell me you weren't caught!" Lucy begged, Levy was two seconds of silence to long.

"Levy!"

"It was only a second they locked me out! I over ran their tracking thing so I'm fine!" Lucy wanted to magically transport to her best friend and strangle her!

"But it's worth it!" her voice called to her.

"How so?!" Lucy demanded.

"I found out more about them!"

"Fantastic" Lucy said in a very thick sarcastic tone.

"Seriously! I found details on their experiments, what the scientist aims were, there no record of any data of any success of what they were doing, but I found about their combat history and something called Wendy"

"Wendy?" Lucy asked, the room suddenly went still, Lucy looked up to the six men who had frozen like they'd been hit with liquid nitrogen, Levy didn't know this and kept talking.

"Yeah Wendy, but there's nothing else I could find, I don't know if it was a person or reference to Wendy of Peter Pan or maybe its code or it could be a mission title or an acronym but I don't what W.E.N.D.Y. could stand for" Lucy barley heard her, watching as the men slowly unfreeze and look to the ground their eyes were enough for Lucy to see whatever Wendy was it had left its mark.

"Lucy? Lu are you okay?"

"Uh Levy yeah I'm fine"

"Sorry if I'm bothering you with this"

"No, no it's fine, I just want you to be careful"

"Always! Anyway don't worry those guys are probably far away from here" Lucy snorted yeah far away from here…like five feet.

"Yeah, anyway goodnight Levy, see you soon"

"Will do night!" Levy hung up and Lucy dragged herself back up the wall to hang up.

"Is your friend alright?" Natsu asks her, Lucy looks up.

"Yeah, she just isn't being careful"

"Says the girl who opens her door to anyone in the middle of the night" Natsu chuckles but Lucy stared, at him.

Even though he was sad a moment ago he was laughing like nothing was wrong. He'd done it before Lucy remembered, when she was sad about her dad he'd say something to lighten the mood, it was oddly considerate of him, he had no reason to be nice to her but he was anyway, even though he was hurting too he laughed.

"Don't do that" Lucy says seriously, Natsu blinked at her surprised.

"Don't laugh when you're not happy! It's not fair on those of us who don't know how to do that" Lucy bit her lip and turned away from him.

"I'm going to bed goodnight" she said closing her door.

Gajeel snorted.

"She's got you figured out"

"That was fast, never pegged you for a lady's man" Sting jokes.

"Has been five years" Rouge says softly.

"Shut up you guys it's not like that" Natsu defends.

"Then in all seriousness what is our plan?" Cobra asks from the kitchen counter.

"I don't know about the rest of you punks but five and a half years of my life were stolen, and we can't get them back so let's get even" Laxus says evenly.

"Exposing what happened won't be easy and there's no guarantee it'll do anything at all" Sting says.

"They're after us already to learn what we can do, and how it will benefit them, if we are caught before we can be protected…" Rouge say solemnly.

"We'll be back where we started being torn apart and put back together, except I doubt we'll be put back together" Sting finishes.

"We can't be allowed to be caught, all the way to the end" Natsu says.

"And out the other side" the five echo.

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	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everyone, thanks so much for Following, Favouriting and Reviewing! Keep at it! Enjoy!**

Chapter 5:

"What about this Levy friend of Heartfillia? Could she be useful?" Gajeel asks, they were discussing what to do next. Natsu muses the thought, he knew Levy was good with computers, even enough to hack into classified information, but from Lucy's conversation it seemed she had been discovered.

"I really don't want to involve Lucy into this anymore, and not her best friend, who she's had to lie to for the past day, cause I broke in"

"How considerate" Laxus observes.

"Shut up, Lucy just found out her father was murdered, has six of the most wanted criminals in Fiore in her apartment and has done nothing but try to be courteous, she hasn't tried to escape once, or warn her friend when she's called or when she came over and went out and bought food for her after I ate it all, cut her some slack guys" Natsu says seriously.

"Fair enough" Sting says casually.

"Guess we should thank her, she is being far more courteous to us than anyone else has in a long time" Rouge says, they nod in agreement.

"I think blondies got the right idea let's get some shut eye" Gajeel says, they all agree, Natsu dives for the couch before the others can, they were about to argue about where the others would sleep when there was a knock on the door, the six men warily looked at it, Lucy walked out of her room and answered it without asking who it was.

"Thanks Virgo"

"Anytime Princess" they heard, Lucy closed the door and dropped four boxes in front of them then returned to her room shutting the door. Natsu opened one of them and pulled out the blankets stuffed inside, the other had men's clothes of varying sizes, another had toiletries, toothbrushes for all of them, a variety of deodorant, two hair brushes, dozens of razors and shaving creaming and the last was stuffed full of pillows, enough for all of them, Natsu smiled.

"Yeah she's pretty cool right" he says, Sting, Rouge and Cobra nod, while Lacus and Gajeel try and find fitting clothes.

In the end they all grabbed new clothes, they'd have to have a shower tomorrow since they couldn't file through Lucy's room to the bathroom tonight. Natsu got the couch again, Sting and Rouge slept on laid out deck chairs pulled inside from the balcony. Laxus slept on the second carpet in front of the TV, Cobra under the kitchen counter on the living room side, and Gajeel slept between him and Natsu on the couch, they all had a pillow and all had a blanket, they slept much better than they had in five years.

Lucy was up first the next day and made French Toast for them all, they all woke to the delicious smell.

"Oh Lucy you're awesome!" Natsu said gratefully bolting over to the kitchen, she held up a hand and he stopped like he hit a wall.

"Its fine, but all of you need a shower, so take turns" she gives him a smile which he returns.

"No breakfast until then" she adds.

You would never see grown men run faster for the door than those six.

After they were fresh and clean in nice clothes, some freshly shaved they got to eat. The apartment stinking of French Toast, maple syrup and men's deodorant, Lucy opened the balcony door so air would come in along with all the windows, the balcony's curtain was still drawn so the men in her house couldn't be seen. Lucy went around after them feeling like a maid, cleaning the dishes, picking up the used towels, folding their blankets, putting their pillows in a pile in the corner with the blankets, putting their old prison uniforms in a trash bag, and putting the wash on for the towels, before putting the dishes away, throwing the trash bags in the incinerator and ordering more food on her laptop to be home delivered. What did the most wanted criminals in Fiore do while she did all this? Watched the Cricket! They all happily watched Cricket on her TV, Natsu, Sting and Rouge on the couch, Cobra on the floor, leaning against the couch beside Rouge, Laxus and Gajeel were sitting in the dining table chairs, also facing the screen.

Lucy tried to ignore her irk and cleaned up the kitchen, fixed up her room since it was now a rail link of men to get to the bathroom. She also cleaned the bathroom so it looked better again. She was in there when someone knocked on the front door so she didn't hear it, Natsu ran to her scaring her when he suddenly appeared, causing her to hit her head against the towel rack.

"Ouch!" she cried.

"Lucy someone's at the door!" he whispered urgently, Lucy groaned and headed out, rubbing her sore head, the guys had muted the TV and stayed out of sight of the front door.

"Hello?" she asked before opening the door, knowing better after the past few days.

"It's Yukino!" a chipper voice answered. Lucy partially opened the door so she could see her friend.

"Hey Yukino how are you?" Lucy said still rubbing her sore head.

"I'm good how about you?" she asks seeing her.

"I hit my head cleaning the bathroom, sorry"

"Hah you're supposed to be sick! That means staying in bed silly" Lucy smiles.

"Yeah I know I was bored so I started cleaning"

"Of course you did, well Levy told me you weren't feeling well so I thought I'd pop by"

"Thanks Yukino, I'm fine just a touch of the flu, I'll be fine in no time"

"Okay, do you need anything?"

"Nah I'm good I ordered some food online so I don't have to go out or get Levy to get me some"

"Well that's good…by the way Lucy why do you smell like men's cologne?" Lucy froze.

"Um…do I? I didn't notice, Levy came by with Jet and Droy yesterday, must be theirs you know Jet he's always got too much deodorant on" Lucy said with a stained laugh, Yukino chuckles.

"Yeah you're right, well get better soon Mira misses you" inside the apartment Laxus froze.

"Yeah I miss her coffees, I'll come visit in the next couple days for sure, I need my coffee fix!"

"Yeah I think she might need to company too" Yukino says a little solemnly.

"Why? Is she okay?" Lucy asks.

"Well I talked to Lisanna and Kinana and Mira's been a little quiet the past few days, you know not her usual happy self which is really weird, I'd ask Erza to talk to her but she's hiking the Alps with Jellal without any technology so they won't be back for a few months"

"Yeah well any idea what could be bothering her?" Yukino shakes her head.

"She denies she's upset but then spaces out, Kinana says she's broken five glasses in the past two days" Lucy's eyes bulged, Mira was an expert waitress she'd never seen Mira drop anything.

"Actually-" Yukino says.

"Kinana did say she's been sad since you and Levy where there the other morning, what did you guys talk about?"

"Just the…prison break" Lucy says softly.

"Oh! Do you think she's worried?! I mean a lot of them where really far away, I know it's all over the news and its annoying they don't even seem to know their names or what they did but I'm sure we're safe, I'll go tell her-"  
"No Yukino I don't think that's the problem"

"Then what is?" she asks worried, Lucy chose her words carefully.

"I think, one of them looked familiar to her and maybe she just got a little sad over that" Lucy decides.

"That's funny, Lisanna said something similar she said she could have sworn she'd seen the big blond one before but she can't place him" Lucy bit her lip.

"I'm sure Mira will be fine, I promise I'll go see her soon okay?" Yukino nods.

"Okay, I'll leave it to you, see you later!"

"Bye!" Lucy waves and shuts the door, she walks back to where they were and turns right to the big blond one.

"You know Mira!" they yelled at each other.

"Yes" they answered together.

"How?" Lucy asks, Laxus uncomfortably looks away, Lucy folds her arms and gives him a cold stare.

"I knew her in High School, we dated, we broke up, I joined the army" he says stiffly, Lucy's jaw dropped.

"You dated Mira?!" she almost screamed.

"How did Elfman not kill you?!" Laxus snorted but he had a smile.

"He tried, I won, he said I was 'manly' so I could date his sister" Lucy shook her head that sounded exactly what Elfman would do.

"But how do you know her?" he asks.

"I knew her sister Lisanna in High School, Erza was a year above me, Mira had graduated before I transferred into the school, so met her later" Lucy said then sighed.

"Small world" she muttered, Laxus nodded in agreement.

There was silence until Sting mentioned the Cricket and they returned to it. The groceries arrived shortly after that and Lucy put them away.

It was around three when there was another knock on the door and Lucy answered it, the boys barely tried to get out of the way still focused on the game.

"Hello?" she asked, already opening it before thinking better of it.

"Lucy! Yukino called me and told me she came over, and she mentioned how I was apparently over with Jet and Droy? But they're away with their parents on a cruise, so what's this about-" Levy couldn't finish, in her attempt to step forward her foot got caught on the small step into Lucy's apartment and she flailed, Lucy opened the door to get it out of the way so she could catch her but they both went sprawling backwards, Levy on top of her.

"Ow" Levy mumbled, looking up and seeing the six guys who were staring down at them.

"Oh" she breathed.

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	6. Chapter 6

**Hello Again!**

Chapter 6:

Lucy covered Levy's mouth before she screamed, Cobra shut the front and locked it.

"Oh my god Lu!" Levy mumbled against her hand.

"It's okay! it's not what you think!" Lucy tries to say, Levy stands up.

"You don't know what I think" she says.

"I really don't understand why they're here but I'm glad" Levy says.

None of them expected that response.

"Did you hit you head Levy?" Lucy asks, Levy throws her an unamused look pulling out her laptop out of her shoulder bag, setting it up on the kitchen counter ignoring the strange looks she was getting from the guys she walked past to get to it.

"Check this out"

"If you've hacked something Levy-" Lucy warns.

"You lied, I hacked were even" Levy says, Lucy sighs and comes over to the computer.

"Everyone, this is Levy, Levy everyone"

"Nice to meet you, I've read all about you" Levy says.

"Okay…" Sting says unsure and sharing a look at Rouge who looks completely unfazed as usual.

"You're take this very well" Natsu notices.

"If you've hurt my best friend I will erase all records of your existence, contact the military and watch as they tear you apart" Levy says evenly, the six of them blanch, Lucy feels a rush of gratitude Levy is her best friend.

"I swear we haven't-"

"Good" Levy says as if she expected no less, she smiles at their shocked expressions.

"Like I said I've read all about you" she says typing at her computer with flying fingers.

"Your friend is scary for a shrimp" Gajeel says to Lucy, Lucy nods in agreement.

"So I finally got far enough around their blocks to sneak back in, at first I wasn't sure if there was anything more to see, aside from the Wendy thing, because I found the same stuff of service record, missions, training, and then I realised that information was missing, I read through it properly and realised someone's gone through and erased all mention of something! Whatever it is I only noticed thanks to the mission logs these guy have to do and it's like words are missing, or sentences and so the log doesn't make sense. And also why they were transferred into the experiments program in the first place. But inside the project itself I see what they were trying to achieve, it was a farfetched idea if you ask me, but since you guys are here and how you escaped it obvious it did" Lucy didn't understand most of that but the six did they were looking to each other as if deciding what to say.

"Anything else?" Lucy asks.

"Just names of those who worked on the projects and subsidiary's"

"Could you check if my father's name is on those lists?"

"Why?" Levy asks concerned.

"Natsu believes he was murdered" Levy paled but she does a quick search and nods.

"Yes your Father's Company was in the subsidiaries, he's just a shareholder so he couldn't have had much information about what was going on" Lucy nods _so he was murdered._

"Levy could you do a search on the project managers and the other subsidiary's and check them with deaths from five years ago, if my father was killed it would make sense others were too" Levy nods and gets to work.

Lucy pours herself and Levy a drink as they wait, Sting, Rouge and Cobra go back to the game, Laxus was in his own world, Natsu stood with Lucy and Gajeel was at Levy's shoulder watching her work.

"I'm sorry" Natsu says softly to Lucy.

"It's okay, at least now I know for sure" she whispers back.

"I don't know how things are going to go Lucy, but I really didn't want to involve you both"

"I know, I heard you last night" Lucy admits.

"Thanks, for everything you've done Lucy, I'll never be able to repay you" Lucy smiles.

"Help me take down the people who hurt you, locked you away, murdered my father and probably more"

"That's a promise" Natsu says.

"And I always keep my promises" he says against her ear, Lucy struggled not to shiver with his closeness.

"Done!" Levy announced shocking them all, they crowded around her.

"38?!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Yep all together thirty eight 'accidental' or 'illness related' deaths happened to people connected to this project, including your father Lucy" Levy says apologetically.

"How on earth did they get away with this?!" Lucy asks.

"No one was looking, that's how" Levy says.

"Everything appeared to make sense, tragic but ordinary since no one was looking elsewhere"

"Levy can you put this on an external hard drive?" Laxus asks, Levy nods, digging into her bag and pulling out her spares.

"We've got to hold onto whatever evidence we can get, if we can prove what they've done, to us as well, we could be free men" Laxus says.

"I'll put everything I've found on it" Levy says already transferring documents.

"Then what's our next move?" Cobra asks.

"Well I've already got what they did to you all in that place, which is completely illegal by the way, not matter if you volunteered, I've got the names of those involved, those who conveniently have died which the authorities could look into…or I could it shouldn't take too long to see how they made it look like accidents if I go case by case, but it'll take a while" Levy admits.

"Whatever you can do would be greatly appreciated" Laxus says, Levy nods.

"Then I'm in" she says.

"I already am, I think burning your prison clothes was enough proof of that, but I do have to ask, what is Wendy?" Lucy asks, Levy looks up as well waiting for them to answer.

Rouge is unexpectedly the one who answered.

"Wendy was the seventh member of Fairy Tail, our team member, our trusted friend and my girlfriend…she was killed in front of us"

 **Oh!**

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	7. Chapter 7

**New chapter! Enjoy!**

Chapter 7:

"Wendy was top of her class to get into Fiore's Military, which shocked a great deal of higher ups because of her gender, so they put her in our group, one because we had never lost a battle and two we weren't taken very seriously because we were so young, but our record stood for itself and after Wendy joined we just got even better. So much so other teams where asking for us to transfer to them. We refused and stuck together, Wendy and I started dating even though it wasn't allowed, no one on our team would snitch, though they happily teased us at every chance" Lucy watched the others slight blushes of shame.

"But six years ago we were on a mission overseas, on our own, just recon. I don't know what she saw but she shouted for us to get down, we listened on instinct and Wendy jumped in front of us, saving the rest of us from a huge landmine that somehow got triggered" Rouge has to take a deep breath before continuing.

"She died in front of us, protecting us…command gave us a week off but another commander offered us a new job, one that would only go for six months, give us a change of pace, all of us together. He joked that it'd only be six months unless we die. A bad joke at the time, worse when we figured out the real job was as lab rats" Rouge shook his head like it would shake the memory loose, so Sting took over.

"At first it was just ordinary tests, getting a base line on how fit we were, out combat abilities, endurance, sleep deprivation, swimming ability, stuff like that. Then it got kicked up a notch or eight when they forcibly strapped us down to punch chemicals through us that made us sick for days only to get up again and go for another round of tests, then back to more drugs, more tests, and days of being sick over and over again.

The end of six months felt like years and the commander that got us to join wanted 'real' results and to send us out into the field, we didn't even need to speak to each other to think the same thing, we accepted. The second they put us on the ground we ran for it."

"It took them two weeks to find us and deem us unfit to continue the testing, and of course the commander couldn't risk us exposing him so he had us throw in separate prisons, while they would silently monitor us, from a distance in case we showed any signs of their treatments working. We made sure they didn't" Natsu finishes.

"How did you escape then?" Lucy asks.

"How about we keep it to one story a night" he says with a slight wave.

"When's dinner?" he adds, Lucy rolled her eyes.

"In two hours at least" she says anyway, Levy went back to her computer after a sad look with Lucy, she felt the same these guys went through hell right after they'd lost someone important to them, and to top it off they were then imprisoned for five years. No matter what she was going to make sure that commander and anyone else involved would pay dearly.

Lucy made dinner for everyone, they were all quiet the most noise came from Levy on her computer tapping away or Lucy cooking, even the TV was on low, no one had said anything after the revelation. The guys went back to watching TV like they had when the cricket was on, Levy was at the counter and Lucy in the kitchen.

"How you going Lev?" Lucy asks quietly.

"Slow I'm sorry to say, since I have to work from each case individually, and they were good and making this look accidental I'm hoping I can spot the mistakes, after all I doubt they were looking for suspicious causes, but Lu this will take some time" Levy says though she obviously loathes to admit it.

"Its fine Levy, they've waited five years they can wait a week or two longer" Lucy says with a smile.

"They are going to go stir crazy in here" Levy warns.

"They were in solitary confinement for five years I'd like to think my apartment is slightly better"

"Yeah but there's less space, in prison they could walk outside one hour a day, they have the TV and each other to keep themselves company, but they're not locked in anymore they can go out and temptation may over rule common sense" Levy warns, Lucy nods she had to admit Levy could be right, but then again they were soldiers they had to have patience, though if Lucy had been in solitary confinement right after being trapped in a lab testing facility for six months yeah she'd be tempted.

"Dinner" Lucy announced with a smile already having served them in bowls with utensils ready, they got in a line, each thanking her before returning to their prearranged seats, Lucy watched them mechanically eat and watch TV with glazed expressions, Levy was right they needed to get out of here or they would explode.

"Hey guys" Lucy gains their attention.

"I was thinking tomorrow, if you guys wear your cloaks we could go out to a coffee shop I know of, there's rooms inside so you won't be seen and it'll give you a chance to stretch your legs" Lucy watched the life return to their eyes and happiness break through.

"It wouldn't be wise" Laxus Killjoy says.

"It might be dangerous yes but your only other option is to wait in here for who knows how long until we get enough information to get you your lives back, it won't end when Levy finishes what she's doing now, there's still a lot more, it's just one time, you guys deserve a break and I trust the owner with my life"

"And ours apparently"

"You will too" Lucy says confidently Laxus looks away turning back to the TV and eating his food.

"I say we risk it, one outing should it kill us will be worth it" Sting says, Rouge silently agrees.

"Blondie and Shrimp have to come too though" Gajeel says.

"Stop calling me blondie!"

"I'm not a shrimp!" Levy and Lucy oppose, Gajeel laughs.

"Gihihi" like he was snickering and Lucy returns to the kitchen happy they all had higher spirits even Cobra who seemed to be eating his food faster like that would make tomorrow come faster too. With a smile to Levy they too get back to what they are doing with renewed vigour.

Levy stayed over that night, she didn't even ask to leave, just said she'd sleep with Lucy in her room and the guys took their place on the ground or the couch in Natsu's case.

They were all nervous and excited to leave the next day, Lucy got Natsu a clock of hers so he had one too and with the six guys hooded up they headed out of her apartment.

Lucy walked in front with Levy and the others followed close behind, they were discreetly trying to look around while not showing their faces, it was quite amusing although Lucy admitted to looking out for police herself. She lead them around the back of Mira's coffee shop and lead them in, Levy pulled open the door to a large room they could have coffee without people coming through, since it was always reserved for special people, Lucy was going to go find Mira but Natsu took her hand.

"Don't go" he said in a slightly pleading way, she nodded.

"Levy could you go?" her best friend nodded.

"Sure what does everyone want?" she asks pulling out her notepad she wrote down the orders like she was a waitress.

Lucy: Cappuccino, White, Two Sugars.

Natsu: Turkish coffee, Black, One Sugar.

Laxus: Caffe Americano Triple Shot, White, Three Sugars and a dollop of cream.

Gajeel: Macchiato, No Sugar.

Cobra: Chai Latte, No Sugar.

Sting: Latte, One Sugar.

Rouge: Flat-White, One Sugar.

For herself she'd get a Mocha with One Sugar.

Levy headed out to give their order to whoever was at the register and say we're having our drinks in here. Lucy took a seat on a couch and Natsu sat next to her, they all talked for a bit for only a minute before the door banged open. Mira was standing there like an Avenging Angel, Levy was right behind her and closed the door, everyone was standing but she ignored everyone and went right to Laxus, who's hood he'd let down and slapped him, hard.

 **Uh Oh…**

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	8. Chapter 8

**Back again enjoy!**

Chapter 8:

Everyone was silent in the wake of the slap, I don't think anyone dared move it was between the two people staring intently at each other.

"Do you know what your gramps told me? He told me you were dead! That you died, not in prison, dead! He died thinking he'd out lived you!" she says in a wavering voice trying not to cry, Laxus's pained expression showed that her words hurt more than her slap.

"I broke up with you when I joined so if I died-"

"What?! Then it wouldn't matter? That I wouldn't care? You're an idiot!" Levy and Lucy nod in agreement from behind Mira, Laxus looked down at her, everyone watched as the two former lovers stared at each other until she hugged him.

"I'm glad you're not dead" she sobbed into his chest.

"As usual you have a funny way of showing it" Laxus says but his words didn't mean much because he hugged her too.

Lucy looked away, if Laxus started crying too Lucy would start bawling, Levy herself was wiping her eye, turning back to the door, which no one had noticed had opened again, Kinana was standing there with Levy's notepad.

"Uh, should I make these?" she asks quietly not to disturb Mira, Levy nods and goes out with her.

"Uh about those guys…" Levy tries.

"It's okay, I recognised them of course but I won't say anything, Mira is obviously a lot happier than she had been the past few days, so they must be okay" Kinana says in a reasonable voice.

"Thanks Kinana" Levy say as with a sigh of relief.

"Don't worry I'll handle the coffee, shut the shop and you guys can have some time" Kinana says.

"Forget thanks Kinana you're the best!" Levy says hugging her, she laughs.

True to her word, Kinana made everyone's drinks including one for Mira who had finally stopped crying all over Laxus's shirt, Kinana had closed the shop and took a seat next to the silent brown haired man who looked a little lonely, with her own coffee.

"Lucy, Levy and some of the guys caught, Mira and Kinana up to speed with what happened and what they were doing.

"You should get Yukino to help" Mira decides once they finish.

"I thought of that too" Lucy admits.

"Why?" Natsu asks.

"Yukino's studying to be a journalist if anyone could help us get the public on our side it's a journalist" Lucy explains.

"You're in university too right?" Natsu asks.

"Yeah Levy and I and Yukino have had some classes overlap"

"Aren't you a little older than normal to be studying?" Natsu asks trying not to offend them, Levy laughs.

"We're on our second degree" she explains.

"Second!" a few of them exclaim, Lucy nods.

"Yeah I studied literature and poetry first, now I'm doing writing and arts, Levy is studying computers and history, previously she was doing linguistics, and Yukino is on her first degree, she was helping her parents out of High School but she wanted to become a journalist so she decided to apply"

"Do you trust her?" Natsu asks.

"Yes, Yukino's a good person she'd never betray someone for herself" Natsu nods trusting her judgement, causing Lucy's heart to pound slightly louder in her chest.

Getting Yukino to come to the Coffee Shop wasn't a problem getting her to sit down calmly after she saw who else was here was.

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed, Lucy and Levy double teamed to explain what was going on and she looked between them and back to the people behind them as they went.

"Jeez" she said once they were done taking a seat.

"This isn't a joke right?" she asks just to be sure, they shake their heads.

"Okay, aside from the fact we could be arrested for even thinking of doing anything with wanted criminals what do you need help with?" she asks.

"Firstly proving the deaths weren't accidental, you have more contacts than I do so it'll go faster and we'll get through them quickly, and then we'll need your help getting the story out there, Lulu can help with that since she's a writer too"

"Wait I'm a novel writer not an article writer!" Lucy objects.

"It'll be better if we both do it" Yukino agrees, Lucy bites her lip but nods.

"So you're with us?" Lucy asks, Yukino smiles.

"Yeah this is why I want to become a journalist" she says.

"Alright, we should head back to mine and get started" Lucy says.

"Will you come back tomorrow?" Mira asks.

"It's too dangerous, however I'm getting the feeling its getting more crowded in Lucy's apartment"

"That's okay, Levy, Yukino and I can come here tomorrow to work so you guys have the apartment, more space to move, and more quiet for us to work" Lucy says thinking quickly.

"I don't like it" Natsu says moodily folding his arms.

"I'll be back in the afternoon, in time to make dinner relax you can live six hours without me"  
Lucy didn't hear his mumbled response as they got ready to leave.

"I hope to see you again" Kinana says softly to Cobra, who looks at her.

"Aren't you scared of me? You haven't said a word since you sat down" Kinana smiled and shook her head.

"No I just knew you needed company without words, I hope I didn't annoy you" Cobra almost blushed, but looked away from her.

"No you don't annoy me" he says quietly.

"Good then I'll see you again…Cobra?" she says as a question.

"Call me Erik" he says, she smiles kindly.

"I'm Kinana, Erik" she says and waves him goodbye.

"You don't disappear on me again got it?!"Mira warned Laxus in her serious tone, but Laxus just smirked.

"Whatever you say boss" he says looking like he was going to leave but he turned around, grabbed her waist and kissed her passionately, everyone else in the room looked anywhere else but them.

"You coming back with us?" Sting asks Yukino.

"Of course I have to interview you guys, help Levy with the deaths, help Lucy with the story, we'll be working flat out for a few days" Yukino says excitedly.

"Well nice to meet you and welcome on board" Sting says with a bow, Yukino blushed.

"Thank you…Sting" she says, the dark shadow behind Sting pushed him to start walking before he looked any more of an idiot and they all started walking out.

Lucy, Levy and Yukino did work flat out over the kitchen counter so much so that the guys had to fend for themselves for Dinner. Natsu was kind enough to put on two minute noddles for the three of them though, they could only say thanks, eat with one hand and type with the other, on their separate laptops, Lucy, Levy and Yukino's tablets were also out along with their phones. Each devise was on something or waiting for something important, Yukino's was constantly going off with notifications from people she knew, Levy's more intermittently as she was connected with Jet and Droy on their cruise with their family, Jet was great at pattern recognition and Droy was working on undetectable toxins, since he was a biology major, though they didn't quite know what they were working on, since it was for Levy they really didn't care.

"How'd you convince these guys to help again?" Gajeel asked over Levy's shoulder.

"They're my friends they're happy to help" Levy says, Lucy and Yukino snicker and Levy throws them a dark look.

"What is it?" Gajeel asks not to be deterred.

"They would do anything for Levy" Lucy says smoothly.

"They're in love with her" Yukino adds.

"Shut up" Levy says looking intently at her computer.

"What was the rejection time again?" Lucy wonders aloud, Levy's fingers stop tapping.

"Wasn't it one second compared to two seconds between them?" Yukino says.

"Shut up! At least I'm being asked out Lucy!' Levy says pointedly.

"Hey! You're worse than Aquarius! Like I want to date the idiots at uni!" Lucy says.

''At least give someone a go, or Aquarius will be right, old and alone" Levy says shaking her head.

"Well you will too with your nose in a book or a computer screen!" Levy and Lucy face off over the counter.

"Yukino what do you think?!" they ask her Yukino jumps.

"I hold my fight as a free citizen of Fiore to stay out of this" Yukino says leaning away from them.

"Hmm" they both huff siting back down and working again.

"Are they fighting?" Sting whispers to Rouge.

"I think so, it didn't make much sense to me" Rouge answers.

"I think I understood old single maids in the future" Natsu says also confused.

"Hey!" Levy and Lucy screamed at him, he toppled over backwards in fright when they both rounded on him. They watched him do it then burst out laughing, Yukino joined in with Sting, Rouge and Gajeel, even Laxus, Cobra didn't laugh but he was struggling to contain his smile, Natsu huffed and got back up.

 **Haha you go Natsu! Always bringing your friends back together even if you don't understand it! More soon! Review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you all for your reviews and for following my story, enjoy this new chapter.**

Chapter 9:

"Come on shrimp don't overexert yourself" Gajeel said soothingly, Lucy was fighting a battle with her eye lids, she wasn't sure what time it was but she knew they'd done a lot of work but a lot still had to be done. Yukino was also nodding in and out of consciousness her elbow on the counter her head moving up and down as she micro slept, Levy however still had her eyes on her screen, her fingers flying.

"I'm fine just a little more" she said, Gajeel sighed, clicked two buttons on her computer to save her work and then shut her laptop, he picked up Levy like a football and carried her away, Levy tried to fight be she was about as strong as a wet paper towel. A part of Lucy a very tired part wondered if she could be carried to bed too, Gajeel had dropped Levy on Lucy's bed without question even if Levy resisited but she couldn't find the energy to get back up, when Lucy felt like she was flying she thought she had nodded off so she grabbed tighter onto whatever she could, it was Natsu also carrying her into her room he had to pry her fingers off him to drop her next to Levy, Sting carried in Yukino after him already fast asleep curled into his arms, he put her down on the other side of Lucy, she was somewhat grateful she had a queen size bed, that was her last thought before she fell asleep.

"I feel really useless not being able to do anything while the girls do all the work" Natsu says to the others, they'd already turned off the TV.

"Me too but Yukino did say she'd interview us tomorrow afternoon, she said it'd help" Sting reminds them.

"Yeah I know but…"

"We know how you feel Natsu, we're used to action and there's nothing to fight" Laxus says, they all silently agreed with him.

"Bed for us too mates we can't go getting weaker than those girls" Natsu says grabbing his blanket and pillow and shooing Sting and Rouge off the couch. The others followed his example and got to sleep.

Right after breakfast Lucy, Levy and Yukino headed out, leaving Natsu, Gajeel, Sting, Rouge, Cobra and Laxus alone in Lucy's apartment so they sat in front of the TV and flicked through channels until they agreed on one or a majority overruled another.

At the café Lucy and Yukino got right back to work with Levy still figuring out the accidental deaths with Jet and Droy, Yukino had gotten her all the info they could, leaving Lucy and Yukino to go through the rest of the information to work for the story, along with evidence.

They worked diligently for hours until Levy kissed her phone and thanked Jet and Droy immensely before hanging up.

"I'm done! All thirty eight we have proof!" she squealed.

"Yes!" Lucy cheered.

"We've got the names of the other players and are still tying them in but in a couple of days we should be able to publish this to every media outlet in Fiore!" she says.

"And once I interview the guys we should be that much closer to clearing them of everything, they'll be free" Yukino chimes the three of them cheer. Until Levy's computer _binged_ and she read the notification that came up.

"Shit" she cursed.

"What?!" they asked immediately.

"Oh no" she muttered typing quickly.

"Shit" she repeated.

"What is it?!" they demanded.

"I got Trojan'd and I didn't even notice"

"What's that?" Yukino asks.

"She was backtracked" Lucy says panicking.

"How?"

"Through a picture I downloaded, must have been a trap shit, okay it's slow because it is a picture but Lucy call them get them out now, Yukino sync then delete everything!" Lucy and Yukino do as their told, Lucy's phone in her hand as they hear a crash, they heard Mira and Kinana scream.

Lucy dialled her home phone fast, it answered.

"Natsu!" she screamed even though she didn't know who answered.

"Get out now!" she screamed just as the door to the room exploded in, Lucy hung up and threw her phone away, Yukino had done the same to the laptop it smashed against the wall as at least a dozen men in black flooded the room and seized them, Lucy saw the erase virus Levy had on her own computer already deleting everything, it flickered and then went blue and then black, nothing would be retrieved from her hard drive.

"Who do you think you are?!" Mira demanded being brought in by two men as was Kinana.

"Take them all" one of the men in black ordered. No matter how much they fought they were all zip tied with duct tape over their mouths and thrown into the back of a van. It skidded away and drove recklessly through traffic, Lucy looked to whoever she could see, Levy and Kinana the only ones who could see her, they shared a look and had no choice but to hope the guys were very far away.

The Fairy Tail team had managed to find a sport game on but it was tennis and it was boring them to death, when the phone rang Natsu dived for it, he couldn't even say hello when Lucy screamed.

"Natsu!" loud enough for them all to hear.

"Get out now!" she continued something exploded in the background and the phone disconnected.

They all didn't hesitated to jump up and off the apartment's balcony to the next building, they kept running and jumping from building to building until finally jumping down a fire escape. The Coffee Shop was in view from their alley way, fire trucks just turning up, the inside was smoking and the front door and all the windows glass was gone and according to one of the firemen who went inside to check there was no one inside.

 **What will happen? Review and Follow to find out!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Back where we left off!**

Chapter 10:

Natsu and his team found an abandoned building and broke in, he wasn't the only one who kicked the first thing he came in contact with.

"Fuck!" he yelled.

"We shouldn't have let them go!" he yells turning to them, none of them looked any better than him.

"They'll be tortured for information about us" Sting says seriously.

"They won't hold out long, they know what happened, but not what those assholes really want to know about us" Rouge says.

"They'll be killed" Cobra says.

"They can't even give em' our location, they have nothing to bargain with" Gajeel says steely.

"What are your orders Captain?" Laxus asks, they all turned to Natsu who took a deep breath, his father always said he was took quick to rush into rashness, but with Lucy and the others lives at stake he was going to have to be cleaver.

"We only saw a small part of what each other could do five years ago, which is how we came up with the escape, well now we're breaking in, and showing these bastards exactly what they created. They took things that belonged to us, we'll show them how must of mistake that was. They called us dragons after the project name, well dragons don't let their treasures be stolen so let's steal them back"

"I'm with you" Gajeel says first.

"Always" Sting agrees.

"Yes" Rouge confirms.

"Agreed" Cobra says.

"All the way to the end" Laxus says.

"And out the other side!" they yell together.

 _Hang on Lucy Fairy Tail's coming for ya!_ Natsu promised.

 _Natsu_ Lucy thought, slowly opening her eyes. She was in a cold room but her back was warm where Levy was lying unconscious beside her.

"Yukino? Mira? Kinana?" she asked.

"Here" a weak Yukino managed to say from across the room.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah those drugs were pretty strong though, I'm a little out of it"

"Same here" Lucy admitted.

"Do you think they got away?" Yukino asks, she didn't need to say who.

"I'd bet on it" Lucy says with a smile, rolling painfully.

The steel lock door opened a little later while their heads were still swimming, Lucy heard the click of high heels echo on the hard floor.

A woman lent down to be more even with them on the floor.

"Hmm, I did tell them to be gentle I will report this; however, the mission was successful, capture the people looking at things not for your eyes"

"We have done nothing worthy of being kidnapped!" Mira states coldly.

"Lucky for you five, you haven't been kidnapped, arrested is a better word"

"By who's authority?" Yukino demands.

"Mine" the woman states evenly, she had long dark hair and eyes with a straight fringe.

"Who are you?"

"Kagura, head of special projects at this company subsidised by the military"

"You work for them" Levy says.

"I work with them, on many projects"

"Why have you brought us here?"

"You three especially know things you certainly shouldn't, you Miss Mirajane Strauss, we've found a connection to you and one of the escaped convicts and you may just be an unfortunate bystander Kinana, but you are involved either way"

"I haven't seen or heard from Laxus Dreyer in ten years!" Mira shouts.

"Oh, I know that, I believe his grandfather got notice of his death in the mail"

"You cruel witch!"

"I am merely doing my job" Kagura states evenly.

"And my job also entails cleaning up loose ends that have become frayed. I understand none of you are likely to be involved with the escapees personally, but you are involved." Kagura got a text from her phone and read it quickly. She turned it off and pocketed it.

"Well I seems I was mistaken…you've been harbouring the fugitives Miss Heartfillia, they're fingerprints and DNA have been found at your residence, along with extra blankets, pillows, food and products for them…you really have welcomed them into your life…well Miss Heartfilia I'm afraid you've been promoted from loose end to accessory"

"What difference will that make?" Lucy asks with a straight face; she knew it would be bad either way.

"None, you will all die either way" the girls all shivered.

"However exterminating someone takes a lot more paperwork than you would believe, I will complete it before your deaths, excuse me" Kagura turned and left, closing and locking the door behind her.

"Lu" Levy says softly.

"Yeah?" Lucy asks as bravely as she can.

"I'm so sorry, you were right, I never should have looked again, I got arrogant, and now we've been caught, and Mira, Kinana, you got dragged into this, Yukino too… I'm so sorry!"

"Levy, this isn't your fault I was involved the second Natsu looked me up in the phone book, longer even, they murdered my father! For being a stockholder in a company that agreed with torcher, illegal experimentation and murder. My dad probably didn't even remember he had stocks in it with how many he had, this isn't anyone's fault, even if we die, we did the right thing…right?" Lucy asks tears falling.

"Yes!" Kinana says passionately.

"Those men hadn't been shown any compassion in so long, they were treated abhorredly, you showed them kindness and support we all did, they needed us and we helped them, that is not wrong…I don't know what will happen, but do not give up hope yet" the girls nod to Kinana who believed her words with all her heart and Lucy couldn't help but find hope in her chest as well.

"Hope is useless" a voice suddenly stated, the girls screamed and the figure in the back winced.

"Don't scream, they like it, don't give them what they want"

"We're sorry, we didn't see you where there"

"I'm used to it" it was definitely a woman's voice, maybe even younger than them.

"What's your name, I'm Lucy, this is Levy, Mira, Kinana and Yukino. The girl leaned forward into a more lit area and stared at them.

"I am Wendy"

 **I didn't mean for Wendy to come back, I thought I had killed her but after reading through and editing I decided, you know what Wendy needs to come back. I'm sorry for the delay…but your reviews got to me so here you are!**


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